I was listening to a webinar today when the presenter mentioned the term Burned Counties several times. I wish she would have clarified this. I presumed that it was a term from the US but I asked Google for further clarification.

The phrase “burned counties” was first used for research in Virginia where many county records were destroyed in courthouse fires, or during the Civil War.[1] The strategies for researching places where a local courthouse or repository was wiped out by fire, tornado, war, flood, hurricane, earthquake, insects, rodents, mold, neglect, foxing, theft, tsunami, or cleaning-streak clerks are useful in similar situations all around the United States, Canada, and throughout the world.

Amy described Genealogy Overwhelm : “So many ancestors; so little time. With the number of ancestors doubling with each generation, it doesn’t take too long for it to feel a bit much. Add to the mix all of the different types of things you want to find and the projects you want to complete and you have a recipe for genealogy overwhelm.”

Thanks to Amy for permission to use her description in the Geneadictionary.

Shauna Hicks used this new word in her blog post on Diary of an Australian Genealogist that I read today. It is an affliction that many of us who live in isolated places or who don’t have sufficient pennies to fund constant Geneatravel experience.